


Drift

by tinywoodenrobot



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Confessions of love, F/M, Jaegers, Kaiju
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:36:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26378164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinywoodenrobot/pseuds/tinywoodenrobot
Summary: The Kaiju had merely been biding their time.
Relationships: Raleigh Beckett/Mako Mori (mentioned)
Kudos: 3





	Drift

The first time the Kaiju came, it was without warning. 

The world had almost ended right then and there, with a giant dimensic hole in the bottom of the ocean letting these strange creatures into Earth’s seas and allowing them to wreak havoc on the human population. 

The Jaeger Program, initially a failure, had been hacked at, adjusted, and reconfigured until it was a force to be reckoned with. Ordinary men and women with extraordinary courage had stepped up to defend the planet, and the dimensic tear at the bottom of the ocean was sealed, effectively shutting the Kaiju out and keeping the planet safe from another invasion. 

So they had thought.

The Kaiju had merely been biding their time. Hatchlings had slipped through the tear before it was closed, hatchlings hidden in the deepest corners of the ocean, undetected by human technology. They lie in wait for many years, long enough for people to feel safe and confident in their ability to protect and defend themselves. Long enough for Raleigh Beckett and Mako Mori, the heroes of the First Kaiju War, to grow old and die. Long enough for the human race to fall back into its routine of everyday life… long enough for people to forget about the Jaeger program and the invasive alien race that inspired its creation. 

And that’s when the Kaiju struck. 

Sophie Bonaire was just a child when the Second Kaiju War began. The human race was caught off guard; the Jaeger Program had long since been abandoned, and they had no way of defending themselves. They recovered quickly, however, and the Program was restarted the year Sophie turned twenty-two, the year she graduated from CalTech as a Biochemistry Major. She’d been immediately recruited by Dale Williams, the head of the Jaeger Program, to help his development team find ways to improve the design of the machines and their link to the human minds that would operate them. After seventeen years of working with the Jaegers, Sophie had finally worked up the courage to ask for the chance to operate one herself. Williams had agreed on one condition: that she train from start to finish just like the others that entered the Program. 

She passed all the academic tests with flying colors; Dale hadn’t doubted her ability to do that. The difficult part, however, was the rigorous physical training that she had to endure. The training itself was one thing; it was gruelling and physically strenuous, and left Sophie exhausted. She never complained, however - it’s what she signed up for.

Her trainer, though, is a different story altogether.

“Steady up, Bonaire. I’m losing you.” 

The voice pulls her out of her thoughts, and she whips her head around to face the speaker. Callum is frowning at her - _again_ \- and the insistent beeping on the tiny screen in her visor lets her know that she’s lost her NavLink connection. 

“Sorry, Callum,” she answers apologetically. 

“Third time this week, Bonaire,” he points out wryly. “Something on your mind I need to know about?”

She closes her eyes briefly, taking a deep, controlled breath. “Of course not,” she replies, once her heart rate has slowed a bit. “Everything’s fine.”

Callum is looking at her like he doesn’t believe her, and she can’t blame him for that. She can hear the telltale click of the comm, and she knows he’s switched to the channel where only she can hear him. “Look, Bonaire, you don’t have to do this. You know that, right? If you want to take some time---”

“I’m fine,” she interrupts him sharply. “I can do this, okay? Just… Callum, please… just _let me do this_.”

There’s silence over the comm, but she hasn’t heard the click, so she knows he’s still there. Finally, he speaks again.

“Alright,” he relents. “Alright. But you _have_ to focus, okay? When you get out there for real, there can’t be any zoning out. You know that. Those Kaiju don’t care whether or not you’re having a bad day.” Despite being in the United States for most of his adult life, Callum’s Irish accent is still very heavy, and it turns every word that he says into something beautifully foreign.

“I know,” Sophie answers, trying to focus more on what he’s saying to her and less on how he says it. She pauses for a moment. “I just don’t understand how this process is supposed to help me with drift compatibility.”

“You’re so close to pulling this off, Sophie. If you can connect with the NavLink computer, you can connect with anyone,” Callum answers. 

“But you don’t drift---”

“Listen,” he interrupts her. “Why don’t we take a break from the Nav for a few hours and work on combat? We can try again with the computer later.”

She wants to keep pushing; she knows how close she is to being able to successfully drift with the NavLink. She also knows that Callum has been working with the NavLink - and the humans who join the Jaeger Program - long enough to know what’s best. If he thinks it’s better for her to quit now and try again later, the chances are good that he’s right. 

She’s also known him long enough to know there’s a reason you don’t pick fights with hot-blooded Irishmen. “Alright, then,” she sighs reluctantly. “You win.”

***

It’s always his eyes that do it.

They’re blue, of course; she’s always had a weakness for blue eyes, and his are no exception. Every time his eyes meet hers, she feels a little taken aback, and a little breathless, like she’s just missed falling off the edge of a tremendously high cliff. He looks at her with those clear, piercingly blue eyes, and Sophie loses herself.

It doesn’t hurt that he stands almost a foot taller than Sophie - tall enough, she thinks, for her to be able to stand on tiptoe if she wanted to kiss him (not that _that’s_ been on her mind lately), tall enough for him to rest his chin on the top of her head if they were to embrace, tall enough for her nose to be perfectly lined up with that part of his upper chest that’s always exposed when he wears those v-neck tee shirts he’s so fond of. 

Sophie has always loved men with height on their side. 

But Callum Murphy isn’t just a pretty face and a nice physique, and Sophie has been working with him long enough to know this. When the Kaiju came the second time around, Callum had been working for Karvakko Engineering; Dale Williams persuaded him to give up planning and surveying environmental, transportation, municipal, aviation, and energy projects to learn the Jaegers and train others on how to operate them. 

***

_“I think you’ll like it here,” Dale said. “Many of our recruits are around your age. Some are going to be working with you, and others will be working with the Jaegers.”_

_“So how does it work, exactly?” Sophie asked, looking up at the still and silent machines. “How do they operate them?”_

_"Drifting,” Dale answered._

_"_ _Drifting?”_

_“Neurosensory connection.”_

_Startled, Sophie whirled around to face the person who had spoken. Her eyes met a pair of keenly intelligent blue ones._

_“I’m Callum Murphy,” the red-haired man offered, holding out his hand for her to shake. “I train the new recruits on how to drift.”_

_“Sophie Bonaire,” she replied, shaking the proffered hand. “Nice to meet you.” She glanced back up at the Jaegers. “So drifting is a neurosensory connection between the Jaeger and the person operating it?”_

_“Yes, but it goes beyond that,” Callum answered. His accent was thick, and Sophie had to listen carefully in order to understand his words. “Drifting is also a neurosensory link between the two people piloting it. They’re connected to one another, and that allows them to control the machine together, almost as one.”_

_“But with double the brainpower, skill, reflexes, and response time,” she added, nodding in understanding._

_He looked slightly surprised. “That’s right,” he agreed, raising an eyebrow._

_“Sophie is our new biochemist,” Dale explained. “She’s going to be helping us with the designs for the new Jaeger models. She’s also going to be working with the research team to study the Kaiju and try to find biological weak points.”_

_Callum nodded. “I wondered,” he started. “You didn’t strike me as a Jaeger pilot.”_

_It was Sophie’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_“I meant no harm by it,” he answered. “Yes, you’re a wee thing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pilot - some of the best pilots I’ve met have been built like you.”_

_Sophie laughed. She’d hardly call herself ‘a wee thing’ - she’d always been known for her curves._ But _, she thought to herself,_ I suppose standing next to someone his height and build, I _could_ be considered little _._

_Callum glanced at Dale. “What I meant is that you have a kind face. Most of the Jaeger pilots that come in here have been trained in some kind of combat. They’ve been fighting for a long time. They’re… hardened, for lack of a better word. But you,” he continued, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly in a smile, “there’s kindness in your face yet. You haven’t killed. If you’re lucky, you’ll never have to.”_

_The speech took Sophie by surprise, and she stared up into his face for a few seconds, trying to find the right words to say. “Thank you,” she managed, finally. “I’m not sure whether or not you meant that as a compliment, but I took it as one.” She shook her head. “Really, like Mr. Williams said, I’m just here to do Biochemistry.” She peered at him closely. “Do you pilot?”_

_Callum shook his head. “No, I don’t.”_

_“That surprises me,” Sophie replied. “Not that you look like a killer,” she added. “But you train other people on how to drift and pilot. I just thought…” She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders._

_“No, I don’t drift.” The expression on his face was unreadable._

_Sophie wanted to ask why. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she saw Dale shake his head, and decided against it. “It was nice to meet you, Callum,” she offered instead. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”_

_“Count on it,” he answered, nodding at her before turning to walk away._

***

“Dale wants me to send in a progress report.” 

She looks up at him as he enters the room. His handsome face is twisted in the scowl she’s become familiar with. It suits him, that scowl. On anyone else, the frown lines would be unflattering. On him, they add character. His naturally curly russet hair doesn’t curl up as much anymore, now that he’s taken to keeping it closely cropped. Sophie once asked about it, shortly after he’d first gotten it cut. That had earned her a smile and a wink, and a promise that he’d never tell her why he’d gotten it cut.

She’ll probably be wondering about it for the rest of her life.

“Go on and tell him how miserably I’m failing at this,” she murmurs, pulling her headset off. Her own curls are damp from the stifling heat of the training room. “He’s watching and listening to our sessions anyway.” She thinks then of how Callum switched to a private channel on the comm when he wanted to talk to just her.

“You’re not failing miserably, Sophie,” Callum corrects her gently. Despite his firm, almost harsh demeanor in the training room, he’s always very kind to her outside of their sessions. “You’re doing exceptionally well for someone who has no background whatsoever in combat training.” He peers at her closely. “What you _are_ , however, is distracted. What’s the matter?”

 _Like I’d ever tell you._ “Nothing, really.” Her eyes don’t meet his. “I guess I’m just worried about the Kaiju. What if we don’t beat them this time?”

“We’ll beat them, Sophie,” Callum answers firmly, taking the bait of her misdirection. “We did it last time, and we can do it again.” He smiles at her then, and Sophie has to look away. “Besides, we’ve got one of the most brilliant minds in the world working on our Biochemistry team. Even if we can’t find a way to physically beat them, we can find their weaknesses.”

Her face flushes, and even though her cocoa-colored skin doesn’t lend itself to turning red, she’s sure Callum can tell that she’s blushing. She looks away again. “I wish I had your confidence,” she murmurs.

“Hey,” he starts softly. “You’ll get there, Sophie Bonaire. I know you will.”

“I hope you’re right.” She looks up at him. “Are you ever going to tell me who I’m going to be drifting with?”

“Oh, come now, Sophie,” he laughs. “You know I can’t tell you that until you prove you can drift with the NavLink.”

“I know,” she chuckles, handing her headset over to him. “I just thought I’d try anyway.”

“Combat training at fourteen hundred. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t, Callum.”

She doesn’t look back, but she’ll swear she can feel his eyes on her as she leaves the room.

***

“Oof!” 

Sophie hits the floor, for the umpteenth time since her combat training session started fifteen minutes ago. She looks up to Callum leaning over her, a smirk on his face. “What did I do wrong this time?” She sighs, exasperated.

Her instructor holds out his hand, and Sophie takes it, grunting as he helps her to her feet. “Same thing you always do,” he answers, patting her on the shoulder. “You lost your focus, and you let your guard down.”

Sophie doesn’t answer him. Instead, she readies herself in the defensive stance he taught her during their first combat training session. 

He raises his eyebrows. “You’re tired.”

“I’m fine.”

He steps closer to her. “Sophie, if you want to take a break---”

His words are cut off abruptly as Sophie hooks her right foot behind his left shin, twisting her foot slightly and simultaneously pushing her palms flat into his upper chest, hard. Callum goes down like a tree, and Sophie is momentarily concerned about the thud she hears as he hits the floor. 

He looks up at her in stunned, but amused, disbelief. “And what did I do to deserve that?” He asks incredulously.

Sophie shrugs, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly as she tries not to smirk. “You lost your focus and let your guard down.”

He shakes his head and laughs, and it reminds Sophie of how much she likes the sound. Callum’s laugh is easy, and it really is a pity that he doesn’t allow himself to do it more. 

_But we’re at war,_ Sophie reminds herself. _There aren’t many reasons for laughter during a war._ She holds out her arm to him, same as he did a few minutes ago, but he’s already halfway to his feet. 

“I think we’re done here,” he chuckles. “At least, I think you’ve had enough of me… of that I’m almost certain. Besides,” he adds, casting her a wistful glance, “you’re not the only one Dale wants a progress report on. I’ve got paperwork to keep me busy on into the wee hours of the evening.”

Sophie nods in understanding. “It's probably just as well anyway… Martinssen gave me a lot of data to organize.”

Some expression that she can't readily identify passes over Callum’s face, but he doesn't say anything.

“What?” Sophie’s eyes narrow.

Callum looks at her quizzically. “I didn't say anything.”

“You didn't have to,” Sophie rebuts. “That look on your face - what was that for?”

He looks at her again. “You could do Martinssen’s job with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back. I don't see why he should be giving you assignments.”

She opens her mouth to respond, but the training room alarm begins blaring. The shrill sound is accompanied by flashing lights and an automated female voice instructing them to move to the nearest exit in a quick and orderly fashion. 

Callum’s brow is furrowed. “I wasn’t notified of a drill,” he murmurs. He taps a few keys on his datapad, and Sophie doesn’t miss the sharp intake of breath that follows immediately after he finds what he’s looking for.

“Callum, what is it? What’s wrong?”

He’s looking at her again, and this time it’s Sophie who draws in a sharp breath. In all her time of knowing him, this man she’s spent seventeen years learning from, she has never seen a look like the one that’s in his blue eyes now. 

Callum is afraid, and that’s not a good sign. 

“This isn’t a drill, Sophie,” he answers, his voice hushed. “The Kaiju are coming.”

***

He’s moving fast, but Sophie matches him stride for stride. If Callum is right, and the Kaiju really have attacked the Jaeger base, they don’t have much time. 

“How?” She manages breathlessly. “How can this be happening?”

Callum doesn’t even turn his head to answer her, as they make their way through tunnels and hallways that Sophie knows now like the back of her hand. “The Kaiju are smart, Sophie,” he starts. “We always knew they’d figure out where we were eventually. It was just a matter of time.”

He turns a corner sharply, and Sophie is right there with him. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, it registers that they’re not heading in the direction they should be. They ought to be seeking shelter, in the basement level of the facility.

They aren’t, however, and Sophie knows this.

They’re heading straight for the Jaegers.

“Callum,” she calls out. “Callum, where are we---”

This time, he does turn to look at her. “You know, Sophie.” His voice is quiet and deadly calm. “They’ll need all the help they can get.”

“But we can’t drift,” she answers, her voice rising and something that feels dangerously close to panic lacing it. “I don’t even know how to!”

Callum stops abruptly, and she almost runs into him, so close on his heels is she. He leans down, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking directly into her eyes. “Remember what I told you, Sophie? The Kaiju don’t care if you’re having a bad day, or if you’re not ready. They _don’t care,_ ” he repeated sharply. “If they get the better of us at this base, there is no hope for the rest of the world. We’ll be up the creek without a paddle, and there won’t be anyone left to pick up the pieces.”

Her heart is beating furiously in her chest, and for the first time, it has nothing to do with her proximity to the man she’s come to love. She’s afraid, and she’s sure he can see it in her eyes. 

“Then what are we going to do?” She asks, her voice a hushed whisper. 

He looks at her for a long time without speaking. Finally, he opens his mouth, and somehow, she knows what he’s going to say even before he says it. Hearing the words come out, however, is something different altogether, and later Sophie will wonder if she imagined the electrical charge that passed between them in that moment.

“We’re going to drift.”

***

“We’re _what?”_

Callum is on the move again, and Sophie isn’t sure whether or not he’s heard her. He turns another corner sharply, and suddenly, they’re in front of the door that opens to the bay where the old Jaegers are, the ones modeled after Gipsy Danger.

He turns to her again. “Sophie, do you trust me?”

Not even hesitating for a second, she nods. “I do trust you, Callum.” She shakes her head. “But I’ve never drifted with anyone before. I can’t even drift properly with the NavLink computer. How am I supposed to operate an actual Jaeger?”

“Well, you won’t be doing it alone,” he answers, and despite the worry in his eyes, he flashes her a smile. “You’ll be drifting with me.”

“But you can’t drift.”

“Not ‘can’t’,” he corrects her gently. “Don’t.”

The alarm is still blaring, and somewhere in the back of her mind, Sophie wonders what’s happening above ground, outside of the facility. She wonders if the Kaiju have reached the coast, and if the pilots in the Jaegers have started to fight. “Why?” She asks, and it strikes her as ridiculous that they should be having this conversation now, when everything they know could be coming to an end.

“I haven’t found anyone that I’m drift compatible with.”

She shakes her head again. “But you said that if a person can drift with the NavLink, they can drift with anyone---”

“I lied,” he cuts her off. “I lied, okay, Sophie?”

Sophie stares at him. “Then how do you know we can drift together?”

“Oh, come now,” he scoffs, searching her face. “You think I don’t know why you’re always distracted in our training sessions, Sophie? How long have we known each other?”

“I don’t understand---”

“You think that hiding the way you feel about me is going to make you perform better,” Callum goes on. “But it divides your mind, splits up your focus. That’s why the NavLink can’t get a good neurosensory connection on you… because you’re too busy using that part of your brain to cover up what you think I don’t already know.”

She clamps her mouth shut, warmth rushing to her face. 

“It’s alright, love,” he says softly. “I know you love me. Now stop worrying about me finding out. We’ve got more important things to worry about.”

She swallows thickly, trying to ignore the warmth in her cheeks and the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “But how do you know we can drift together?” She asks again, the urgency and fear bleeding through her voice.

He looks at her then, and the worry in his eyes gives way to something else. “Because I love you, too.”

***

Their drifting is seamless, and it’s unlike anything Sophie has ever known.

She can feel everything that Callum is feeling - the rush of adrenaline that courses through him when they first link with each other and the Jaeger; the apprehension, the fear. 

She can also feel his love, and she wonders how much of her own love she’s telegraphing to him. 

_How is this possible?_ She thinks.

She knows he can hear her thoughts, but she’s still surprised when an answer comes. _I told you how capable you were, Bonaire._ There’s laughter in his thoughts, and it makes her smile. _Do you believe me now?_

 _What I believe_ , she starts, _is that I feel like I can accomplish anything when I’m drifting with you._

_Hold on to that feeling,_ Callum answers. _You’re gonna need it._

***

The battle isn’t without its casualties; Sophie would be naive to think that they could slip through a fight this big in a war as serious as this one without at least some lives being sacrificed. But when the smoke clears, and the battle is over, the coast is littered with slain Kaiju, and the remaining wounded slink back off into the ocean, beaten back by the Jaegers still standing.

The one piloted by Callum and Sophie is one of those Jaegers. 

“Good work, Bonaire,” Callum says, offering her a grin. His face is flushed from the heat of the cockpit and his exertion with the Jaeger’s left side, his russet curls stuck damply to his forehead. He looks like Sophie feels - exhausted, ready for a week’s worth of rest, and there is still a bit of worry lacing his eyes. 

Sophie thinks he’s beautiful, and she tells him so. It’s the first time she’s ever seen Callum blush. 

“And what of your first drifting experience?” He asks her. “I’m sorry you had to be forced into it that way.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not,” she answers slowly. “It was amazing.” She pauses, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. “I’m glad that I drifted with you.” 

He smiles at her then. “I hope you don’t think this means you can skip out on your training sessions now,” he starts, his tone one of mock sternness. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she laughs. She hesitates. “Callum?”

“Yeah?”

“How did you know that we’d be drift compatible?”

He doesn’t answer her right away. He’s taking off his equipment, and a long enough period of silence passes for Sophie to think he isn’t going to. He speaks finally, though, and when he does, his eyes are serious. “I’ve always known, I think,” he answers slowly. “Even before I knew how you felt about me, before I knew how I felt about you. There was just something that told me we’d be good together.”

She accepts this as an answer, and there is some inexplicable happiness that fills her when what he says sinks in. She takes one step closer to him, then another, then another, until she’s standing right in front of him, close enough to see her reflection in the blue of his eyes. She stands on her tiptoes, very slowly, just like she always imagined she’d have to. 

And she doesn’t need a neurosensory link to his mind to know how much he likes it when she kisses him.

**Author's Note:**

> So Callum and Sophie are actually based on real people - friends of mine who started out as coworkers, then moved to friends, then moved to being head over heels in love with each other. I thought I'd take their story and insert it into one of my favorite sci-fi premises of all time. I hope you enjoyed reading this weird brainchild of mine. :)


End file.
